A 56-year-old Florida man is in custody and is expected to be charged in connection with a sweeping investigation of the 12 bomb-like devices…
A 56-year-old Florida man is in custody and is expected to be charged in connection with a sweeping investigation of the 12 bomb-like devices addressed to prominent Democrats, according to the Department of Justice and an unnamed official.
Multiple news organizations are reporting the suspect is Cesar Sayoc Jr., from Aventura.
CBS Miami and the Sun-Sentinel are reporting the Miami-Dade bomb squad went to the mail processing center at Opa-Locka Executive Airport, 550 Fisherman St., Opa-Locka.
FBI agents are reportedly inside an AutoZone store in Plantation, where they have locked the doors and are only allowing employees to enter.
Multiple media outlets have assembled outside the auto supplies retailer, which has been closed to the public. A hand-written sign said the store will not reopen until Saturday at 7:15 am.
One FBI official escorted one woman inside the store and then locked the door. The FBI official, who was wearing a blue jacket with the letters FBI emblazoned on the back, made no comment to media.
According to the Miami Herald, DNA evidence led investigators to the suspect later identified as Sayoc.
According to court and other public records obtained by The Associated Press, Sayoc has a lengthy criminal and court record in Florida. He has been convicted on theft, stolen property and traffic charges and in 2002 on a threat to „throw, place, project or discharge any destructive device.“
Sayoc was sentenced in August 2002 for threatening to throw a bomb in a conversation with a Florida utility representative, according to Ronald Lowy, a Miami attorney who represented him. Dade County court records showed Sayoc served a year’s probation after a judge signed a discharge certificate in November 2002.
Lowy told The Associated Press that Sayoc „made a verbal threat when he was frustrated at a lack of service.“ Lowy said Sayoc showed no ability at the time to back up his threat with bomb-making expertise.
The lawyer said Sayoc was a bodybuilder then, and displayed no political leanings except for plastering a vehicle he owned with Native American signs.
Court records also show that Sayoc was convicted in the 1990s in Broward County on grand theft and stolen property charges and in 2004 on a felony charge of fraudulent refunds and misdemeanor of tampering with physical evidence.
Sayoc was born in New York.
President Donald Trump said Friday afternoon that the suspect in mail bomb scare will be prosecuted to „fullest extent of the law.“
MORE: Trump praises law enforcement for apprehending suspect in suspicious package case
Multiple media outlets report Sayoc’s white van was impounded at the auto parts store. It reportedly had multiple pro-Trump stickers on it.
The total number of devices reached a dozen Friday after two more suspicious packages were recovered, one in Florida addressed to New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker and the other in New York addressed to former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.
A package addressed to Clapper was recovered at a Manhattan postal facility. Like some of the previous packages addressed to prominent Democrats, the one found in New York City on Friday had the office of Florida Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz as the return address, a photo obtained by CBS News showed.
The nation has been on heightened alert in the wake of bomb-like devices addressed to top liberals, including former President Barack Obama, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former Vice President Joe Biden.
MORE: Robert De Niro says ‚There’s something more powerful than bombs and that’s your vote‘
This story will be updated.
